Spirits of the Dead (1968)

Costume Design by:

- Jacques Fonteray ( notable efforts: Spirits of the Dead (1968), Delusions of Grandeur (1971), Moonraker (1979), The Lady Banker (1980), Les 1001 Nuits (1990) )

- Piero Tosi ( notable efforts: The Leopard (1963), The Damned (1969), Medea (1969), Death in Venice (1971), The Night Porter (1974), The Innocent (1976), Lady of the Camelias (1981), La traviata (1982) )

Note: Fonteray was costume designer for the 'Metzengerstein' segment, whilst Tosi was costume designer for the 'Toby Dammnit' segment.

An anthology film made up of three different vignettes adapting various Edgar Allan Poe stories, though this entry will only look at the costumes for the first segment 'Metzengerstein' and last segment 'Toby Dammnit', as I don't find the costumes for the 'William Wilson' middle segment interesting enough to cover. The 'Metzengerstein' segment was directed by Roger Vadim, director of Barbarella, which would explain both the presence of costume designer Jacques Fonteray and Jane Fonda starring as the wicked Countess Frederique. The various outfits worn by Frederique are anachronistic (which to be fair its not like this is meant to be a serious historical docudrama, is it now), such as this black and white coat (sometimes worn with a green turban) thathshe wears when out horse riding.

A lot of Frederique's outfits tend to come in a black and white colour scheme, such as this endearingly anachronistic doublet, worn with leather leggings.

Perhaps the most striking outfit in Frederique's wardrobe is this almost futuristic design consisting of a brown vinyl (ostensibly meant to be leather) chestplate worn over chainmail and leather leggings, with black and white striped short sleeves - if anything gives away that this is the same costume designer as Barbarella, then this would be it!

Frederique wears a good number of revealing corsets in the film, presumably to highlight the character's debaucherous nature (and also sex appeal, obviously), with this particular design adhering to the black and white colour scheme of the previous outfits.

Very briefly, Frederique is seen wearing this large-sleeved white dress worn with a plumed feathered hat - this dress looks like it came right out of a burlesque show!

Some of Frederique's outfits in the film drift away from the black and white colour-scheme, such as this white and mustard coloured corset and cape, worn with white boots and a bejewelled necklace as well.

Lastly, is another corset and cape, this one being in a bright yellow colour, worn with matching boots and a gemstone clasp around the neck.

The last (and best!) segment of the film, Toby Dammit, was directed by none other than the legendary Federico Fellini (who is going to be popping up more on this blog!), and as such is a wonderfully stylish and sardonic tale of Terence Stamp playing an actor who made a pact with the devil to save his faltering career. Of course, Fellini can't resist showing off the glamour and as such there is a film awards ceremony where the women wear a variety of pretty 60s dresses designed by Piero Tosi - sadly, pretty much all of these dresses are barely seen in the actual film, nor are there any publicity or behind the scenes photos I could find. A crying shame, all I hope is these dresses still exist in some capacity today somewhere.